Sunday, July 7, 2013

Ugh. Another disasterous ride down here on the Outer Banks this morning.....

We have guests this weekend, so I was determined to get in my long ride early today. I was quiet as can be as I made coffee so as not to wake the passed-out masses and soon headed out on a beautiful sunny morning with just a mild breeze from the west.

As it was so early I decided that I would be safe riding over the bridge to Manteo and then on through town and over the old bridge to Mashoes and beyond. Well, it wasn't to be....

I crossed the bridge and was a lttle over five miles into the ride on the causeway between Pirate's Cove and Manteo when I ran over something metallic (I heard the clinking sound) and felt that unmistakable feeling as my back tire deflated. Damn! Not to worry - a quick change and I would be on my way. I found a pretty good gash in my brand new tire (see previous post) but no obvious cause of the flat. I cleaned things carefully and put the new tube on the rim. The tire was a little more difficult than usual to get back on the rim as it was new, but after just a little wrestling that too was in-place. Now just pump it up and I would be on my way. I got out my CO2 cylinder, placed it over the valve, pressed the button and...... pfffffttttttt...... just a pathetic little puff of gas and the thing was empty. WTF? It has never been used, but apparently must have been happily and slowly leaking gas without me knowing. No spare canister and no pump with me. Now what?

It was still too early to call SWMBO, who enjoys her bed on Sunday mornings, so I decided not to disturb her unless absolutely necessary. There are usually plenty of riders here, so I figured that I would just start walking slowly and I would be sure to run into some friendly soul with a pump. Ummmm... not so much! One very nice lady on a beach cruiser stopped, but her tires had different valve to mine, so her pump was of little use. I kept walking and was soon at the bridge. This left me in a quandry: walk over or try to catch a ride? I tried to look suitably pathetic on the side of the road for a while, but what little traffic there was just kept speeding past. What the heck, I'll walk.... now the quandry became do I walk into oncoming traffic for safety reasons, or do I walk with traffic to increase the chances of someone giving me a ride? I chose the former and walked over this baby:

A little later I saw a biker coming towards me - finally! Unfortunately, it was a guy on a roadie who completely and utterly ignored me, despite me yelling to see if he had a pump as he passed. Who rides past someone walking their bike in the middle of nowhere? What a D-Bag! Oh well, keep walking....

Soon enough I was walking back up the beach road. Surely now someone would stop to help? I was within less than a mile from home when finally a friendly voice called out from a driveway. Two very nice couples from Virginia were just heading out for their ride and had a pump - phew! After pumping-up and having a nice chat I was able to ride the last few minutes home. Six miles of riding and walking four plus miles in bike cleats counts as a workout, right?

Now I'm off to OBX Cycles to buy another new tube; a couple of CO2 cylinders and a small hand pump. Damn you Bike Gods!